Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

There were 11 of us entered in the 25 mile ride.  We all left at a nice leisurely walk and after a few 100 yards, took up a nice working trot.  Sinatra was feeling good and behaving himself very well.  We were soon passed by a lady on a big Morgan gelding who was traveling much faster than I wanted to that day (she ended up winning the ride).  After about 6 miles, our little group (as in all 11 of us) ran into Dave Cootware going the opposite direction.  He was the front-runner in the 55 and was kind enough to let us know we had all missed the turn about a mile back.  So we all turned around and back-tracked, oh well, at least when EVERYONE misses it, it makes things fun and very fair!  That was the ONLY section of trail that was not clearly marked that day.

 

Sinatra was doing great on pacing.  I love this horse!  We ride and train by ourselves quite often so he?s not very attached and will let me know when he wants to speed up or slow down, regardless of what the horses in front of him are doing.  Today was the first time he felt a little ?racy? with me but he was still very easy to rate and control.  He?s just starting to understand that endurance is a lot of fun and it?s even more enjoyable in company!  We did a lot of trotting with intermittent walking where it was rocky or he needed a break.  I ended up riding the first 10 miles or so with a really nice man by the name of Heinrich (I believe) from Napa on a dark gray 6 year old Arab.  The trail was really nice, with a lot of single track and jeep roads.  There was some rock but you could just slow down and walk through it.  There was also some deep sand, but we have sand we train in at home so Sinatra didn?t mind.  There were some rolling hills and great views of the surrounding valley.  Not a tree in sight though, unless it was hooked to someone?s sprinkler system!  This is the N. CA desert after all, only a few miles from the NV border. 

 

After a short but really steep hill, I got off to adjust my girth and didn?t really see Heinrich again (he ended up finishing 5^th).  So I rode the last 10 miles back into camp with a lady from Red Bluff (sorry, I?m absolutely HORRIBLE with names!).  Our two horses were pretty evenly matched and we enjoyed taking turns leading and following.  About ½ mile from the finish, she and another couple behind us decided to walk their horses in.  Sinatra had been having great recoveries all day and was happily trotting along at about 100 on my heart rate monitor so I let him cruise on in.  I walked him the last 100 yards and by the time we go to the In Timer, he was at 70.  I jumped off, grabbed my vet card, got my time, and walked him around the corner to the P & R where he pulsed in at 56.  Good boy!  At our first ride, vetcheck was so exciting that it took him about 5 minutes to get used to everything and come down, even though he was walking in at 70 at that time as well.

 

(to be continued)